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Nokia jacks up Apple patent complaint

New filing covers 'virtually all' Cupertino output

Nokia has upped the ante in its patent-infringement battle against Apple by extending its accusations to cover "virtually all of [Apple's] mobile phones, portable music players, and computers," according to a statement by the fiesty Finns.

In October, Nokia filed suit against Apple in a Delaware US District Court. Tuesday's complaint was filed with the US International Trade Commission (USITC).

The USITC complaint accuses Cupertino of violating Nokia patents "in the area of user interface, as well as camera, antenna and power management technologies."

The distinction between the two complaints, according to Paul Melin, Nokia's general manager of patent licensing, is that "While our litigation in Delaware is about Apple's attempt to free-ride on the back of Nokia investment in wireless standards, the ITC case filed today is about Apple's practice of building its business on Nokia's proprietary innovation."

After Nokia filed its original lawsuit, Apple declared that it would "defend the case vigorously", and then launched a countersuit in December. At that time, Apple's head lawman Bruce Sewell sniffed in a statement, "Other companies must compete with us by inventing their own technologies, not just by stealing ours."

Apple has yet to respond to Tuesday's USITC filing, but we can only assume that this is one dust-up that's going to continue for some time, with no love lost between Cupertino and Espoo. ®